The Price
by Michael224
Summary: When Soul disappears, Maka is left reeling. When he's found, everything changes for the both of them. Eventual Soul/Maka.
1. Prologue

My first Soul Eater fanfic. Takes place during the first season, sometime after Maka and Soul fought Crona the first time but before Asura was released. It will eventually, most likely, be Soul/Maka and will probably feature Crona pretty heavily later as well.

I don't own Soul Eater.

_Prologue_

_His feet felt too heavy. _

Stopping with the thought, one of his hands went out, fingers gripping along the brick of the building he had been walking beside, the trail of bright red highlighting the rust color of the bricks going unnoticed.

For a moment, he stared down at his feet. For a moment, he wondered who had put the weights in them because they sure felt heavier than they should have been. And just where the hell had his shoes gone anyway?

"Dammit." He gritted the word out as he let go of the wall only to fall against it shoulder first, squinting ahead, down the alleyway towards the street. He just needed to get there. He was almost in the city. He needed to get to the school. The left side of his mouth quirked up into a half smile. He was probably late. Maka was going to kill him.

_Maka. _He almost laughed even as he couldn't stay on his feet any longer, one hand going to his side. He could feel the dried blood from the old wound there, adhering his shirt to his skin, and was just grateful that it hadn't broken open. The pain was distant at that moment, anyway.

"This is definitely not cool." He fell then, his thoughts straying only for a moment before going firmly back to the one person he so desperately wished would show up.

_Maka…_

Xxxxxxx

Maka Albarn had had bad weeks in her young life. She'd even had bad months. The months after her parents had divorced had always fallen into her worst category. The ugly disappointment she'd felt in her father, the wrenching loneliness when her mother had left. That had been bad.

Worse yet had been the weeks following her fight with Crona, when she'd spent hours crying beside a hospital bed, waiting for her weapon partner to wake up. Soul had sacrificed himself for her, because of a mistake she'd made and the guilt, the pain had nearly overwhelmed her. It had even nearly destroyed their partnership.

But this? Maka was beginning to think that she should put this month at the very top of her list. Sitting on the ledge of the balcony at the DWMA, she stared out over the city. She couldn't stop herself from closing her eyes, from reaching for him again. But, again, she was disappointed.

_Soul. _She leaned forward, her dark blond hair falling across her face. She hadn't even had the presence of mind to put it up that day. She hadn't had the will to do much of anything outside of the search in the last month.

A whole month. It had been a whole month. A month with no sign of him, no lead, nothing. He'd vanished. Nobody had seen anything. Nobody had heard anything and Maka had no idea what she was supposed to do to get him back.

"Maka?"

Tsubaki's tentative, worried voice didn't make her look up and she didn't need to to know that the others were there with the girl. She could practically feel their worried gazes. She was somewhat afraid to look up, somewhat afraid of what else she'd see in their expressions.

She cringed at the thought, at the memory of the explosive fight she'd had with her father when he'd suggested that she start trying to move on, start trying to accept that Soul…Maka clenched her fists in her lap and shook her head against the thought. _He is not dead. _

But it had been a month and even Black Star's optimism was fading.

The hand that landed on her shoulder almost made her jump. "Perhaps you should go home?" Kid suggested to her right. "Get some rest."

But she'd made a promise. She'd promised she wouldn't let Soul get hurt again. She'd promised herself that she'd protect him the same way he'd protected her. And she'd failed.

"Maka?" They were calling to her worriedly again but it wasn't them that had her finally opening her eyes. It was another voice, a whispered one, a voice just a bit deeper than Kid's.

_Maka._

Her head snapped up and, ignoring her friends, she stood up on the ledge, eyes wide with a desperate hope. For just a second, she wondered if she'd imagined it. It wouldn't have been the first time over the month he'd been gone but then she reached out and she _felt _him. Faint, almost stuttering, but _there. _

She didn't even hear her friends cries of surprise when she jumped from the ledge. She didn't stop when she hit the ground either, moving as fast as her body would allow through the city. She only stopped when she reached the outskirts, the very edge of the city.

She skidded to a stop at the mouth of an alley, her heavy breathing abruptly coming to a halt when she caught sight of the crumpled form on the ground, of the shock of familiar messy white hair.

"Soul!" She was already crying when she screamed his name. She sprinted to him, dropping to her knees as soon as she reached his side and pulling him over onto his back, into her lap, his head coming to rest in the crook of her elbow.

Through blurred vision, she noted that his shirt was a tattered and bloody mess. That his shoes, jacket and headband that he always wore were missing. His feet were blistered and bloody and he was unconscious.

But in the moment, none of that really mattered. He was there, he was breathing, and she could _feel _him again. She leaned down over him, pressed her forehead against his.

"Soul." _I have you now. _She wouldn't ever let him go again.


	2. React

I had to re-write this chapter a bit, which is why it took me so long. Been watching too much Fullmetal Alchemist and Ed was bleeding into Soul a little bit…

xxxxxxxxx

There was a flurry of activity around her only moments after Maka had found Soul. Black Star wasn't the only one yelling, she was sure of it but Maka only held the boy in her arms closer as a response to the activity.

She'd felt protective of him before, after he'd been hurt before, but after a month of not knowing, after a month of imagining the worst, that feeling was doubled and she couldn't relinquish her hold on him when Kid reached for them.

She was shaking with the emotion that welled up in her chest as she stared down at him, once again taking in his injuries. It left her almost breathless. Rage and protectiveness stronger than she had ever felt in her life.

She wondered briefly if he had felt something similar before he'd stepped in front of that black blade for her.

"Maka."

Her head snapped up and Kid must have seen it on her face because he drew back a bit before continuing. "We should get him to Professor Stein."

She searched his expression for a moment. She trusted Kid, of course. He was one of her best friends and he'd been amazing over the last month but it was still almost painful loosening her hold on Soul so he could take the other boy.

He lifted Soul from the ground with an ease that should have been odd but wasn't. Soul didn't wake when his head rolled and came to a rest on Kid's shoulder. Kid took off a second later, going as fast as he could while trying not to jostle Soul too much.

Maka kept pace with him, the rage not abating in the slightest.

Xxxxxxx

His knuckles were beginning to scab over. It was a small thing, Maka supposed, to notice. A small thing compared to the dehydration, the torn feet, and the infection Professor Stein was treating him for but she still noticed.

The wound on his side hadn't been deep but it had been there long enough to get infected and, even then, Maka could feel the heat of fever in Soul's skin. And still, Maka focused on his knuckles. Maybe she needed to focus on it, on the fact that Soul had obviously fought back against whoever had done this to him.

Of course he had. Of course he would have. She should have been there. If she'd been there…

She was grateful for the silence in that moment, grateful that Tsubaki had managed to drag Black Star out of there, grateful that Kid had the courtesy to go as well. She didn't want anyone there, didn't want them to see.

Resting her chin on the side of the bed, and laced her fingers through his. She couldn't help herself. Maybe she wouldn't be able to do it if the others were there. Maybe she'd feel the need to smile, pretend she wasn't still reeling like she had last time Soul was in one of these beds.

Turning her head to the side, she sighed. Her eyelids drooped. He was going to be fine and then they were going to destroy whoever it was that had taken him, hurt him. She would make sure of it.

_She couldn't move. Standing directly in the center of the large, dark room, she couldn't move. All she could do was stare across at the faceless opponent directly in front of her. Why couldn't she move? She should be. She should be fighting. The shadowy figure had yet to move either but she knew that it was dangerous, that if she didn't fight soon, something bad would happen. _

_The flash of light that happened next did not reveal who it was that was across the room but she recognized the light. It was the same light she saw every time Soul transformed. He stood from the crouched position to move in front of her, blocking her view of the shadow. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his yellow and black jacket and he looked unconcerned. _

_"Soul…we have to…"_

_"Don't worry so much, Maka," he said with the same bored tone he used when he was talking about school work. _

_"But…What are you doing?" She tried again to move, to reach for him. _

_"My job, right?"_

_Maka didn't see the shadow moving but she did see it when the sword pierced straight through Soul's abdomen. Still, he grinned at her as blood leaked between his teeth. Then, he was falling…_

Maka woke with a bit of a start but did not move for several seconds. Sighing, she finally lifted her head, although she didn't free her hand from Soul's. She'd been having dreams like that since even before Soul had disappeared, since he'd taken a near fatal blow for her.

Most of those dreams consisted of Soul either dying or vanishing right before her eyes and she hadn't gotten near as much sleep as she probably needed over the last month. But he was alright, or would be.

_No thanks to me_

She cringed at the thought. She didn't need the reminder. All her determination to protect him hadn't done any good. She'd just have to make sure that whoever had hurt him this time wouldn't get the chance again.

Xxxxxxx

Maka was down the hall, heading back when she heard Black Star's loud voice. Huffing, she sped up her pace. And she'd only been gone for a little while, had needed to get some air and had finally given in and found something to eat. If the idiot had jumped on Soul the way he had last time, she was going to do more than just hit him in the head with a book.

But when she made it inside the room, she stopped short and even Black Star's voice faded into white noise. Soul was awake, propped up on a few pillows. He still looked tired but Maka was more just focused on the fact that he was awake and looked alert.

"Yeah, except you'd give yourself away before you could sneak up on _anyone," _he said, in response to whatever Black Star had been boasting about. The lazy amusement in his tone was almost painfully familiar.

Before she could think too much about it, or worry about any embarrassment she would feel later for the action, Maka had rushed over, leaned down and wrapped her arms around him. He froze at the action.

"Maka?" His tone had turned uncertain and the confusion in his eyes only grew when Maka pulled back, wiping her eyes.

"I was just…worried," she said, blushing now that she had come back to her senses a bit.

"Yeah." He studied her a moment. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Ah." Tsubaki grabbed a hold of Black Star's arm. "We'll come back later." She started dragging Black Star out of the room.

"But we haven't found out who it was yet! Don't worry, Soul! I'll kick anyone's ass who tries to-" The closing door cut him off and Soul rolled his eyes.

"Hey," he said when he turned his attention back to her and realized that she was crying again. "Maka, what the hell is going on?"

"I thought you were dead, you moron!" She burst out.

Soul blinked, startled. "But they said the injuries weren't life threatening-"

"A month, Soul! You've been gone a month and we all thought…" She trailed off when she caught Soul's expression. He even tried to sit up.

"But…that's not possible," he said, eyes wide.

Maka paused, staring at him. There was genuine shock and confusion in his eyes. "What's the last thing you remember?"

He shrugged, settled down into the pillows again. "That stupid fight we had over dinner."

Maka remembered that fight. It had been the kind of bickering they usually did over stupid things and it had been hours before he had vanished.

"You've been gone for a month," she repeated, more quietly this time. Unease settled in on her. She'd been counting on Soul telling her who had done this to him but if he didn't remember who it was, then he didn't remember what all was done to him and that worried her even more than his visible injuries.

"Maka," he called, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Look, I'm fine now."

"How can you be so calm about this?" She asked, exasperated.

He shrugged again. "No use in freaking out over it."

She sighed and dropped down in the chair beside the bed. "You're such an idiot."

He grinned at her in response and she said nothing about the fact that it didn't come close to reaching his eyes.

Xxxxxxxxx

The pit in his stomach refused to leave. Despite how tired he still was, Soul did not sleep after Maka had left. The bad feeling was familiar, a heightened form of the unease he'd felt before when he'd been having those dreams after stepping in front of that black blade for Maka.

He searched his memories again but there was nothing there. Just…bickering with Maka at their apartment. He had no memory of how he had gotten the injuries he had.

"Are you alright, Soul?"

He nearly jumped at the sound of the voice and looked up to meet the yellow eyes of Doctor Medusa. "I'm fine."

She smiled a bit and he tensed. He had no idea why but as she drew closer, he felt the sudden urge to, despite his injuries, run from the room. But when she leaned over him, he couldn't move.

"Don't worry, boy. I'll take care of you."

Xxxxxxxx

So…I know that Medusa sort of…forgot about Soul and Maka in favor of Stein and Asura in the series. So, I guess this story is a product of her not forgetting…


End file.
